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They're a way of showing which answers are good and bad. A well explained and easy to understand answer will be upvoted, while an incorrect answer will be downvoted. This helps people see what they should listen to. It also provides an incentive to give good answers.

To expand on this, upvoted answers are shown at the top. If you go to a typical forum you might have to read through 10 posts before you see the actual correct answer. Upvoting makes that quicker to find.